hollow
by Tenacious maelstrom
Summary: When the shinigami gifted Naruto after the sealing,it normally would have been a good thing,had the Kyuubi not been a hollow.With the blood of both a reaper and hollow,Naruto is neither,and yet,is both, but he's not a vizard or arrancar.he's something els


Orochimaru chuckled, tearing the fake face off in a display of rubbery flesh as the Sandaime Hokage looked on in barely suppressed disgust and horror. He smirked cockily, golden eyes flashing in triumph as three wooden boxes started to rise from the tiles of the building. The entirety of his plans began to merge as the shock on his former teacher's face turned to vicious determination.

Sarutobi flashed through hand seals as the coffins rose, watching in satisfaction as the first two tilted on the roof, preventing the third from rising up. He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the final coffin would have released a foe even he would lose to almost instantly. It was bad enough that he would be facing his former teachers, but to face the Fourth Hokage, he would be doomed.

It wouldn't have stopped with him, though. If the Fourth, Namikaze Minato, the famous Konoha no Kiroi Senkou, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, had been successfully summoned, then Orochimaru would not have stopped at merely killing his sensei. No, Orochimaru would have continued on to the village and nothing would have stopped him.

If the Snake Sennin had managed to bring back Minato, Kakashi, the man's student and a powerful asset to the Leaf, would have been unable to react in time to do anything. He would have been too overcome by shock and grief to fight back and would have been annihilated before he could do anything.

Most of the village's shinobi would have similar reactions. If Orochimaru had succeeded in reviving the Fourth, then the entire village would have been doomed. Jiraiya, who had recently returned for a small duration, might be able to put up a decent fight, but it was still doubtful that the man would defeat his previous student.

The old man's eyes narrowed as the two large boxes creaked open, the lids falling to the roof tiles with a loud thud. Two figures stepped out from within, each wearing his own version of battle armor on the chest and arms. The first had long, smooth black hair held from his face by a Konoha hitai-ate. The second had spiky white hair held back by a 'helmet' similar to the one that Yamato, a trusted ANBU, wore. He also had three red marks on his face — one horizontal on each cheek and one vertical on his chin.

The Shodai and Nidaime Hokage.

"It's been a long time," the Nidaime said, "eh, Monkey?"

"Hmmm," the Shodai mused. "You've grown old, haven't you, Sarutobi?"

"I would not have thought I would meet with you two brothers again like this," Sarutobi said grimly. "It's regrettable. Please make your preparations to be defeated."

"How about you forget the chatter and get started?" Orochimaru asked in annoyance. He pulled out two kunai, each tagged with a strange paper, and inserted it into their heads.

Instantly, any and all injuries on the two Hokage dissipated into thin air with a hiss of steam, revealing flawless skin and sturdy armor that both looked brand new. Orochimaru grinned, stepping back as the Shodai and Nidaime regained all of the health they had lost when they had died, "Let's get started, shall we?"

The Third rushed forward without any warning, flashing through hand seals as he drew closer to his new enemies. He stopped on tiger, taking in a deep breath as his chakra churned and morphed. He blew out, mentally chanting, "_Katon: Karyuu Endan!"_

A thick, powerful stream of fire raced forth toward his foes, incinerating several roof tiles in a blaze of flames. The Nidaime went through his own set of seals, calling, "Suiton: Suijinheki!"

He spat out a torrent of water that swirled around the three ninja to form a thick barrier, protecting them from harm. The fire style skill collided with it powerfully, sizzling out as the water began to evaporate under the intense heat. As the Karyuu Endan dissipated, the Nidaime went through more hand seals.

He stopped abruptly on bird, the water swirling to take a draconic shape, "Suiton: Suiryuudan!"

The Third flashed through his own set of hand seals, spitting out a huge globe of mud that quickly formed a barrier between him and the water dragon intent on destroying him. He named the technique as the dragon crashed into it, breaking down into its base element, "Doton: Doryuuheki!"

The Shodai sped through a set of his own seals, muttering, "Mokuton: Jyukai Koudan."

The Sandaime jumped atop his tall barrier wall, going through yet another sequence of seals as thick roots wound their way towards him. They grabbed onto him just as he finished, wrapping him in a thick bondage as a plume of smoke arose in front of him.

An ape appeared, clothed in shinobi garb and a tiger-skin pelt, a Konoha hitai-ate wrapped around his forehead and pushing back his thick white hair. He turned serious eyes from Orochimaru as he looked back at the one who had summoned him, "You're pathetic, you know that, Sarutobi? This is all because you didn't kill him when you had the chance!"

"That's what we're going to do now," Sarutobi told him. "Enma, use the Kongonyo!"

"Right," the ape spun, another plume of smoke arising to cover him, "transform!"

The monkey king's form shifted, turning into a large staff as it cut through the tree roots binding the Third Hokage. The Sandaime grasped the huge, thick pole as he fell free, glaring down at his traitorous student, Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin merely smirked up at his old teacher, confident of his victory.

The snake man's mouth opened, revealing one of the slimy serpents, which, in turn, opened its own mouth to reveal the hilt of a sword. Orochimaru grasped the hilt, pulling it loose to reveal the legendary Kusanagi no Tsurugi, Kuu no Tachi. His smirk widened as he brandished the sword in front of himself.

Sarutobi jumped off his stone wall, crying, "Let's go, Enma!"

He landed, rushing forward and taking a swipe at his foes. The Shodai and Nidaime jumped over and ducked under his weapon respectively, watching as the Third thrust Enma forward. The pole extended, crashing into Orochimaru's sword as the snake man blocked it. The two Hokage under his command reacted, kicking the Sandaime backwards where he fell onto his butt.

"Please don't disappoint me too much," Orochimaru smirked. A sizzling sound interrupted anything else he might have said as two explosive notes, one on each of the Hokage, exploded in a burst of smoke, destroying the former Fire Shadows' legs.

Orochimaru laughed as the legs reformed, "Your breaths seem to be coming rather fast, you know."

The Sandaime sighed, setting Enma down as he made as seal, "The exchanges of Jutsu end here!"

Sandaime coughed up blood, grimacing as he glared at Orochimaru, "There was no need for me to dodge the blade! This Jutsu is a forbidden skill that costs the caster his life. It is a powerful sealing Jutsu that stopped even the biggest threat Konoha had ever faced!"

"W-what?" Orochimaru hissed. "You don't mean— the Kyuubi no Kitsune! Agh! Damn you, old man!"

"_Now,"_ the old man turned his attention to the astral arms in front of him, tugging on the evil man's soul once more. It didn't budge. "_I guess this is my limit. Were it not for this sword, I would be able take all his soul. Damn."_

"It doesn't matter!" he cried aloud, tugging as hard as he could one last time. He managed to pull the right shoulder out too, guaranteeing that he was taking two arms and a lung. "The seal is set! The end is now! Shiki Fuin! Fuin!"

With a hiss that only the caster and the target could hear, a gleaming silver blade came down and severed the left arm, right shoulder, and right arm from Orochimaru's soul, sealing them inside the Sandaime's body. With a dark sizzle, the seal pattern drew itself on the elder man's torso as he fell backwards and Orochimaru's arms began to blacken.

The Sandaime's body fell and hit the roof with a soft thud, and that brought forth a scream from outside of the barrier. The snake Sannin looked and saw the blond from the team his next vessel was on, and smirked, despite being hurt, he still enjoyed bringing pain to others. From that scream came a growl, and a flare of power.

"YOU KILLED OJII-SAN! I WILL RIP YOU APART!" shouted the boy as a white substance started to take form over his face. Within seconds, it had shaped into a mask. It had formed into some kind of strange form fitting helmet. On his neck, it was segmented, and on the top of his head there were two curved horns, one on each side. A strip in the middle was higher than the rest of it, and this strip went to about eye level. There were two black lines under his eyes, and it had a mouth with rows of fangs. The fangs looked like they were more than just a piece of his mask, they looked like a part of him. Then there was the matter of his eyes...his eyes had turned gold, and the whites had turned jet black.

He let loose a monstrous roar that sent a shiver down even Orochimaru's neck. When he roared, he let loose another flare of energy which burned off his jacket, and revealed a blade strapped to his back. Naruto drew the blade, and Orochimaru saw that he was correct in his assumption, mostly anyway. The handle was black and white, with a crossguard in the shape of a skull surrounded by flames. The blade was a normal blade, except for the fact that it was jet black with a silver edge. With another roar he charged at Orochimaru, completely ignoring the shield. At the last moment before running into a fiery death, he swung the blade, and instead of melting, it bounced off. Again, he drew back his blade, and swung at the barrier full strength. Orochimaru could see his elite guards wince at that slice, as if it had taken effort to keep up. Naruto, realizing his sword wouldn't work, held out his arm and extended his thumb and index finger.

"Cero!" he shouted. A green ball of energy built up on the point of his finger before firing off at the barrier. Orochimaru watched four of his strongest shinobi struggle to keep the barrier up, and fail. Sakon was the first to fall, and after he went down from the force exerted on him, the shield fell immediately. Naruto let loose another roar and rushed at Orochimaru with his blade. Orochimaru now had a problem. He was being attacked by a close range enemy, and he had no arms. Luckily, that problem was answered by the aforementioned elite guards. Jirobou ran in front of Orochimaru and made a few hand seals before slamming his arms into the ground. When he did, an orb of earth rose up from the ground where Naruto stood. Jirobou quickly ran to the edge of it and placed him arms on the orb, trapping the boy.

Then a sound that no one expected was heard. Laughter. A sickening, cold laughter. Gone was the inhuman rage, now in it's place was insane laughter. "You think this can stop me? Ha!" the voice was Naruto's, but not Naruto's. There was something different about it. A blast of green light penetrated the sphere, and blew a hole straight through it. When Naruto walked out, his appearance had changed once again. His hair had became lighter, now it was a very light gray, almost white. When he saw the boy charging another one of those 'cero' attacks, he decided it was time to end this. He signaled for Kidomaru to take him out as quickly as possible.

Before the cero could be unleashed, Naruto found himself on a web, which was draining his chakra. A golden kunai was sent by Kidomaru straight between his eyes. It hit the mask, and there was an explosion as half of the mask shattered. A crimson light shone, and everyone watching was forced to close their eyes to not become blind. When the dust cleared and the light faded, they saw Naruto, or what looked to be mostly Naruto walk out of the explosion. He was different than both previous forms. Half of his mask remained on his face, while the other had shattered. There were cyan lines under both eyes, and the sword in his hand was white, as if made from bone, while the edge was jet black. The crossguard of the blade was now shaped like an eye. But by far the most shocking difference was the hole, perfectly circular, in the middle of his throat. The power radiating off of him was shocking. Orochimaru realized that this would be a good time to retreat, gathered the sound four and shunshin'd away, signaling to the rest of his forces to leave. A few seconds after, Naruto collapsed on the ground face first. When he did, his sword returned to it's previous color scheme, his mask shattered, and the lines on his face faded away, and were replaced by his normal whiskers. The hole in his throat filled up as everyone who had been watching, shocked at the show of power from the blond, rushed up to see if he was alright.

About an hour later, Gaara stumbled into Konoha hospital looking for the blond who had saved him from himself._ 'No, he did more than that,' _thought Gaara. _'he saved me from myself, without using that power I sensed when he was with Orochimaru.'_ to someone who's life had been based on being the best, and killing the most people since the day he was born, to be defeated by someone who wasn't using the full extent of their abilities inspired a great deal of respect. That respect, along with the offer of friendship was the reason that only doctors had been allowed into the room during the entire time that the boy was in the hospital. What made the red haired boy angry was that while the white haired pervert, the man who smelled of smoke, the woman in the trench coat that showed far too much skin, the red eyed woman, and a team of people which included two men in spandex who shouted about youth, a white eyed boy, a girl who had an unhealthy obsession with Naruto's sword, and Naruto's one eyed Sensei all came and tried to visit, but his own team mates who he risked his life for, didn't. Gaara had never had friends before Naruto, but he knew that this was wrong, and considering that they were supposed to be friends with his only friend, that made him angry. While he pondered this, Naruto started to wake up. Not entirely remembering the events that lead up to being in the bed, and not sensing a familiar presence which he had felt every day when he woke up for the last six years, sat up immediately and spoke.

"where's my zanpakuto!?" He had slept with it since he had created the blade, and it's presence not being next to him meant something was wrong.

"Calm down Uzumaki-san. I suspect you mean your sword. I have it here next to me, to keep it safe." spoke a monotone voice Naruto recognized as Gaara's. Then it all came back to him, the Sandaime's death...him revealing his powers...his transformation... unfortunately, he had spoken(read: yelled) too loudly, and every nearby nurse and doctor had rushed in to see him sitting upright, as did Jiraiya, who had been waiting outside of the room due to his inability to get past Gaara, who never slept. Gaara's defenses did not block any of them this time, which they thought was a good thing. The doctors checked his stats and told him that he was fine.

"Gaara, could you leave us alone for a minute?" Asked Jiraiya. Gaara turned his head to Naruto who nodded, telling him it was okay. "now, fess up kid, what was that all about?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you getting some kind of mask, then suddenly going all berserker, then changing, then changing again."

"well, that's a long story."

"I've got nowhere else to go."

"fine. I'll start at the beginning."

"that's usually the best place." said Jiraiya, getting frustrated with all this stalling.

"alright. You see, when the shinigami sealed the Kyuubi into me...to put in the simplest way...it owed me."

"what do you mean it owed you?"

"I was getting to that. You see, it had just doomed me to a life as a sacrifice, so it felt bad, and granted me the powers of a shinigami, or, more accurately, a soul reaper. The problem lied in that, the shinigami that we know as the shinigami, is the king of seirieti, the afterlife, and when the Yondaime summoned him, it was the first time he had left his own home in millennia. He was a little rusty, and he didn't recognized the Kyuubi for what he was, and thought he was just a demon."

"Isn't he?"

"No, the Kyuubi is a vasto lorde class hollow. The amalgamation of the souls of millions. Shinigami destroy hollows and send their souls to the afterlife, while hollows eat the souls of others, and absorb their strength. The two were not supposed to be mixed, and yet, when the shinigami both sealed the Kyuubi in me, and granted me the powers of a shinigami, they were. I ended up as a shinigami with Hollow powers, a vizard. Until I changed."

"changed? What are you now?

"Now...I'm not sure, actually. When the kunai hit my mask, the Kyuubi refused to let me die, and pushed as much power into my mask as possible, causing it to break the way it did. If the broken mask had've stayed permanently, I'd be an Arrancar...but now...I don't know what I am. I'm neither, or both." Said Naruto.

"Just so you know, there's no way I could have actually beaten Orochimaru out there if his arms worked, even if the hollow took over fully. I'm not even sure if I could have beaten him the way he was. I was more powerful than his lackies, but I think it was mostly the element of surprise. They didn't expect me to be anything more than a loud idiot. Next time, they'll be prepared." Jiraiya just nodded.

"So, does anyone else know?"

"Well, everyone knows something from what they saw, or will hear about it. But, no living person knows about anything more than what they saw, other than you of course. That doesn't meant that no one knew, though." Jiraiya picked up on what he meant.

"Sensei?"

"Hai. He was there the night it happened for the first time."

"the first time?"

"I was seven. It was my birthday. I was in the middle of the worst beating I'd ever had, when I heard a voice. _'call for me and I will come...call the name of kyuufuhono'_ and I did. This sword," he motioned to the blade in his hand. "formed out of thin air once I called it's name. As you could probably guess, this startled them for a moment, but as I had no idea how to use a sword, the beating continued after that, getting even worse before it finally happened. The mask formed, and it was as if I was a passenger in my own life. I got to watch, but I wasn't in control. I watched at my body ripped them into pieces, I watched as my body laughed at their pleas for mercy, and by the time ojii-san arrived, I was huddled in a corner, trying to break my mask by slamming my head into the ground. That was the day I learned what I am and how from the Kyuubi" _'and my hollow.'_ he finished in his mind. He didn't just have the Kyuubi, but once his mask manifested, so did his hollow. Having the Kyuubi inside of him split a small part of his soul off from the rest, and this part came to contain all of his anger, blood lust and other similar emotions. He just didn't think it was very smart to tell him that there were two beings that could control him at any minute.

"If you've been able to do this for so long, then why didn't you while you fought Gaara, or against Zabuza or something?"

"The old man placed a few seals to only let me transform when he let me, and he only ever let me while training me to control it. It's not like the was trying to control me, far from it, but right after it happened, I couldn't really control when the mask would form, so he made it so I couldn't unless he let it happen, which would meant that it would be safe to. It was put into the seal that if he died, the seal would go away, and I'd have free rein." his eyes darkened, realization sinking in about the death of the man he'd seen as a father figure.

"It's raining," Naruto noted quietly, watching as, one by one, the large procession stepped up to the casket and laid a white lily or chrysanthemum atop it. Each of them said his or her good byes quietly, so as not to disturb the thoughts or grief of others present. Each and every person was wearing identical black uniforms, dressed the part of mourning friends and family.

Rain poured down from the heavy black clouds above, soaking all that stood in front of the large wooden box that held their Sandaime. Even the heavens weeped for the man. Logically, he knew he couldn't have beaten Orochimaru. He knew that even his inner hollow couldn't have beaten Orochimaru, but that didn't stop him from blaming himself.

He knew that no amount of extra strength would have helped him defeat Orochimaru in time to save the old Hokage. The man had gone into battle with no intention of surviving to see the next day. He had known that he would die facing down Orochimaru, and he had died knowing that he had protected his village the best he could. Knowing that, didn't make it any easier though.

Konohamaru was crying a few feet away, and Iruka was trying to comfort him. He noticed that Kakashi had vanished from the crowd, and realized that he probably was at the memorial stone, speaking to his late friends and Sensei. He felt bad for his Sensei, even if the man wasn't much of a teacher, he still felt bad for him. He had lost so much already, he'd lost everyone, and now the Sandaime, who had been a grandfather to the whole village...Kakashi would take a while to get over this. Silently Naruto pondered if he would visit the memorial stone for the Sandaime. He doubted Orochimaru would realize, let alone regret just how many people he had hurt by doing this.

After what seemed like hours of people walking up and leaving a flower on the casket, it was his turn. He had no flower, but his gift would be longer lasting, more permanent. When he stepped up there he pulled out a larger than normal kunai, and knew every shinobi there was ready to pounce. Then activated his mask, letting the one horned half-of-a-helmet take form. He placed the large kunai in his palm, held his other palm above that one, and let his hollow take over for a moment. The hollow, while insane and bloodthirsty, was still a part of him, with more emotions than just the ones of battle, and cared about the old man just like he did. "el tallado pone a cero" a small cero formed between the hands and it moved along the kunai, sculpting it. In a few moments the weapon was carved into a perfect rose and the mask shattered. He placed the black metal rose on the coffin and began to speak, knowing that everyone could hear him.

"I know you probably can't hear me...but I'm going to miss you a lot. You did so much for me, and the whole village."

he sighed deeply. "I know, you died the way you wanted to, protecting the village, carrying on the will of fire, you died on your own terms, but that doesn't make it any easier." Naruto was clenching his fist now. "Konohamaru won't stop crying, you know, and Asuma-Sensei is smoking eight packs a day...damn it old man! You were like a father to me! You protected me when no one else would! You were always there for me! Always! And now, you're gone because of that snake!"

Naruto's eyes darkened, literally. The whites were a light gray right now. "And that's why I'm going to kill him." the eyes of the picture of the man looked harsh and judgmental now. "I know, you wouldn't want me to take this path...you'd want me to fulfill my dream...become Hokage...live life, but I can't forgive him for what he's done. Not just to me, but to everyone from the strongest ninja to the lowliest merchant. , he's hurt everyone, and for that, he will die." He walked through the rest of the crowd, knowing their eyes were on him. His desire to get away was overpowering, and for a moment, his eyes turned yellow and he disappeared, leaving nothing but a faint buzzing sound. He looked around frantically, wondering where he was, before he heard a voice from inside of his head _'you can thank me later'_ and he knew that somehow his hollow had helped him get out of there. He would have to ask about that later.

"Hey, kid," a familiar voice that he didn't want to hear called quietly, halting his walk.

"I'm not in the mood, hentai. Go away." Naruto continued walking.

"I heard what you said." Said Jiraiya, stopping Naruto in his tracks. The perverted toad Sannin's eyes narrowed as he spoke the next words. "Do you really intend to kill Orochimaru? That's not an easy task, you know."

"I know. I know that it's nothing short of impossible, but I'm going to do it. The hebi-teme will die." his fist was clenched so tightly now that his palm was bleeding from his nails digging in so deep. "for all he's taken from me, from the village. He ruined Anko's life once already, and now he had to do it again? Kakashi has already lost everyone else, but now he's lost the Sandaime too. Look at Asuma, or Konohamaru, they're barely holding it together! He's taken from everyone, and he probably doesn't even realize what he did." The perverted old man nodded begrudgingly, agreeing with his apprentice's assessment.

Jiraiya let out a sigh."Against my better judgment, Naruto, I'm going to ask you a favor. It's not something I would normally ask of a Genin or even most Chunin, but I think it's something you can handle."

Naruto eyed him skeptically, "What is it, hentai?"

Jiraiya's eye twitched at the nickname, but he pretended to ignore it, "I'm going to look for my teammate. We need her back here for something, so I have to go find her and convince her to come back. Would you like to come with me?"

"You don't want me to go, do you?" said Naruto, his eyes darkening as they narrowed. "this has something to do with Orochimaru, doesn't it?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "There's a chance that he'll go to her to get his arms healed, she's the only one who can do it, but the chances of meeting him are slim at best."

"Slim's good enough. Alright, I'll go on this trip of your's, but you'd better teach me some justs. So, when do we leave?"

"tomorrow. Get your things packed as soon as you get home, and meet me at the gate at eight sharp."

**A/N: I was reading fics the other day when the idea hit me. I've seen fics where he's a vizard. I've seen fics where he's an Arrancar. I even saw one where he's a hybrid of everything, but I've never seen one where he's both. By the way, he's not overpowered. He can't use shikai, and his only hollow ability so far is cero, and an extremely uncontrolled sonido. It was only through the element of surprise that he got Orochimaru to retreat. Also, he has very little control of his hollow, and it will manifest in some way frequently, and for the mask and Arrancar appearance, he's basically Ulquiorra. To any wondering, yes, he will have a shikai at some point, along with a resurecion. I'm not sure about bankai. **


End file.
